Any Expediters Affected by California Fires?

[Streakn1]

Shawna and I finaled out a T/T load in Rialto,CA this morning. Beginning at Victorville,CA the smoke was quite noticable and worsened as we traveled on down to our stops in Fontana and Rialto. From there we were pre-dispatched on a load picking up in Chula Vista,CA. We passed the emergency command center for the San Diego firefighters and emergency personnel. President Bush had arrived and was thanking everyone involved for their hard work and dedication related to these fires. I've never seen so much emergency equipment in one place! From there he was to tour the devastated areas.

As we traveled further south on I-15 we were able to see the destruction left from the fires first hand. Words cannot discribe it. Our hearts go out to the victims.

We are now sitting at our pickup in Chula Vista waiting for our freight to arrive from Mexico. It was supposed to be here two days ago. Unfortunately, due to the fires at the US/Mexican boarder it has been slow getting freight into this transfer yard. Major roadways have been unsafe to travel at times between here and there. If need be we will wait over night as the load pays good and the customer needs to be served!

 

[ATeam]

We are now at the gate in Orange County (Irvine), waiting to deliver first thing tomorrow morning. While we are near the Santiago fire, there is no sign of it where we are. People seem to be coming and going as normal. Night time freeway traffic coming in was surprisingly light. From Victorville south, there is smoke in the air but nothing that reduces visibility on the ground. Some Orange County schools are closed tomorrow due to poor air quality. We will be glad to get out of here and onto the open road tomorrow afternoon.

It is an interesting contrast. On TV, it's flames and tears and politicians and fire fighters and evacuees. On the ground not far at all from one of the fires, it is people moving calmly about and business as usual. If we had a passenger in the truck who had not heard the news, the smell of smoke might prompt a question, but otherwise, there would be nothing to indicate we were in the middle of a major situation.

 

[cliffn]

I started this reply earlier but hit the wrong button so will apologize in advance if this info gets posted twice...

We delivered last Monday, the 22nd in Irvine. Some smoke going in on the night before.

After our delivery, we headed toward the Hesperia area but got a call for a load that picked up in San Diego on Wednesday morning. We headed south in I-15 but after driving several miles found that the entire interstate was shut down.

We managed to get into the Wal-Mart parking lot at Murrieta where we stayed for the next day and a half along with many evacuees who were in travel trailers and motor homes.

Conditions got better on Tuesday and were able to get to our pickup point in the wee hours Wednesday morning. It was a great load heading to Philadelphia.

When you listen to the national news you would think all of California is on fire. Obviously, it is bad and our heart goes out to all who lost homes and even loved ones in the fire. However, in spite of all the bad there is much good. Those people are working together to make the most of it.

We found that we got our best information by tuning in to the loacal radio and television stations in San Diego.

Oh, by the way. We made our delivery in Philadelphia on Friday morning and now we have a load headed for Thousand Oaks, CA to deliver Monday morning.

Good luck to all who are affected in any way by the fires.

Cliff and Tami
D Unit Team
18 Wheeler Team 8 years
D Unit Team 4 years

 

[ATeam]

>Oh, by the way. We made our delivery in Philadelphia on
>Friday morning and now we have a load headed for Thousand
>Oaks, CA to deliver Monday morning.

California to Philadelphia and back to California again.

Rock and Roll!